


Another thing that never happened

by SharpestRose



Series: Things that never happened to the Robins [2]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-29
Updated: 2011-06-29
Packaged: 2017-10-20 20:21:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/216750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharpestRose/pseuds/SharpestRose





	Another thing that never happened

  
The plaza is too exposed. He wants to turn and run. To hide. The costume feels stupidly bright. For the first time, he does not think of its colors with unconditional love.

He stands his ground, in what shadow he can find, and waits.

Tim can feel his heartbeat in his throat. He closes his eyes behind the mask and breathes in and tries to calm down, but he might as well be trying to levitate for all the good it does.

Superman lands. "The State Department asked me to stop by. They had reason to believe Batman would be here."

Tim does his best not to let his surprise show. "Why would they think that?"

"Why don't I ask the questions for the moment, _Robin_ ," Superman says, his eyes narrowed. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Tim can't say it. He has to. He swallows. "As you said, I'm Robin. For the moment, at any rate. I'm here because they can't be."

-

 _He's never even thought about who he might have been without the watching. Without the thought always hovering in his mind that it's only a matter of time before he next sneaks into the city. It's just who he is. What he does. Batman and Robin deduce and fight and triumph, and he's there as a silent witness to it._

 _He has to divide the watching time, now. Half for Dick - Nightwing, the name unfamiliar and elegant like the clothes Tim's parents buy and which take a little time to get used to - and half for Batman and the new Robin._

 _The new Robin is vicious. It's frightening, but Tim isn't frightened. The new Robin simply lacks the idealism of the first, or of Batman._

 _The only thing Tim has ever found to give him that kind of optimism is what Batman and Robin do, and so he has faith. The new Robin will learn what Tim knows, one day._

-

Tim doesn't wait for Superman to ask more questions. They don't have time for that. "Why did the State Department expect Batman? Why was that cause for concern?"

Superman hesitates. Tim regrets never making an effort to know his secrets. Such knowledge would be to his advantage now.

Tim sets his mouth in a harder line. There's no use in regret.

" _Why_?" he presses.

"There's a new ambassador arriving today. It's legitimate. He has diplomatic immunity."

"The Joker."

Superman blinks. "Yes. How did you know?"

Tim crosses his arms, wishing that the gauntlets fit better. Wishing any of the uniform fit better. He feels like a child playing disguise games. The mask is the only part of the costume which feels like it belongs against his skin.

"Call it a hunch."

-

 _He trails Robin - no, Jason, his name is Jason when he's not in the suit - to the airport. Watches him buy a ticket._

 _There's a moment of hesitation as Tim reaches into his pocket and pulls out the leather wallet his father gave him last time his parents came back from India. It's obviously airport-bought, perhaps from this very terminal. There are three credit cards in it._

 _There's a moment of hesitation, but only a moment._

-

"A week ago, the Joker beat a young man nearly to death and left him to die in a booby-trapped warehouse. It's still unknown whether he will survive. The prognosis isn't good," Tim says, and tries to keep his voice steady. He recrosses his arms.

"You have proof?"

"I was there."

-

 _The flight is long, and Tim didn't think to buy a book to read. The magazine provided by the airline has nothing noteworthy in it. The cabin is only half-filled with passengers._

 _Four hours after takeoff, a cough makes Tim look away from the unchanging view out the window. Jason's standing in the aisle, hands in his pockets._

 _"Hey. I'm not a creep, I swear. I just figured, you know. You're bored, I'm bored, let's talk about sitcoms for a while or something."_

 _Tim forces himself to smile. "'kay."_

 _Jason grins and sits down. "I'm Jase."_

 _"Tim."_

-

"Bruce Wayne is still in Ethiopia with his adopted son," Tim goes on. Superman gives him a long look, then nods. He's obviously about to say something else when a limousine draws up to the curb. Tim retreats further into the shadow afforded by one of the buildings surrounding the plaza.

"Isn't this touching?" the Joker asks with a giggle. Tim grits his teeth and balls his fists inside gloves which don't fit him. "Super _ham_ 's come to congratulate me. I'd hoped the Batpest would be here too."

"He couldn't make it," Tim says, and steps out into view. "So I came instead."

-

 _They talk for most of the flight. They know some of the same people back in Gotham, and they hate the same movies._

 _Tim stays well into the background after that, so that he's not noticed and recognized. Sometimes he loses Jason's trail, as they move from place to place in search of the woman who might be Jason's mother. Tim isn't there when Batman and Robin are reunited._

 _But he's there, hiding out of sight, when they meet Jason's mother. He's there when Batman leaves._

 _And he's there when the Joker arrives.  
_  
-

The Joker's face doesn't fall so much as collapse in dismay.

" _No_ ," he whispers before raising his voice to a scream. "NO! I KILLED YOU!"

Tim curves his mouth up into a smirk. "You mean smacking me around? I don't know about _killed_ , but you sure as hell owe me a couple of bucks for heat packs and aspirin." He's satisfied to hear how natural his tone sounds.

"No, it's not possible." The Joker takes a step as if to lunge at Tim. Superman moves forward and clears his throat.

The Joker hesitates. After a moment, his grin returns. "Never mind. If at first I don't succeed, eh?"

-

 _The door to the warehouse is locked, but the Joker has left the key. Tim can hear sounds of panic and movement inside._

 _"We're almost there..."_

 _They both look up at him when he opens the door, the terror etched on their faces changing into relief when they see that he's not an enemy._

 _"Come on!" Tim shouts, racing to support Jason's weight on the his other side. It's like moving through a nightmare, his legs too slow and the bomb's counter so fast..._

 _They're barely away before the warehouse shatters in a wave of heat and noise and debris. The woman, Jason's mother, looks down at her son's injured form in her arms, then up at Tim's face. Tim isn't sure what his expression looks like. He can feel that he's crying, and that his cheek's been sliced shallowly by a piece of wood._

 _"I -" she says, and then she runs. Tim doesn't see which way she goes. He's got more important things to worry about._

-

Superman flies them to Metropolis. Tim wants to protest, to get back to Gotham and familiar ground, but he's too busy trying not to collapse into a shaking heap. His bravado's spent and there's vomit in his throat.

They land in a side-street near the _Daily Planet_ offices and Tim throws up into a garbage can.

"That was very brave. Stupid and reckless, but brave."

"He needed to see," Tim says dully, standing up and wiping his mouth. His neck feels clammy in the cape's collar. "He needed to see that he can't kill Robin. _Ever_."

"Your heart was pounding."

"I'm aware of that, thanks." Tim pulls the gauntlets off his hands.

"Are you planning to continue this? Or was it a one-off performance?"

Tim blinks in surprise. He hadn't even considered that as an option. Superman's expression is something like a smile. A terribly sad one.

"That's what I thought," he says.

-

 _Tim lowers Jason to the ground. "Jase? Jase? C'mon, open your eyes. Stay with me..."_

 _One of Jason's eyes - the one that isn't swollen and purpled and seeping blood from under the lid - flutters._

 _"Hotel... room," he gasps, coughing between the words. "My bag. Compartment in the bottom. There's a spare... gotta... you'll..." Consciousness leaves him with a sigh._

 _Tim doesn't want to slap him, because that might cause more damage, but he knows it's dangerous to let someone with a head injury pass out._

 _"Jason?!"_

 _Tim turns towards the cry, still cradling Jason's head and shoulders in his lap._

 _"Over here!" he shouts._

 _Batman pushes through the rubble, stumbling in his haste. He falls to his knees beside Tim, hardly noticing him, face uncovered and eyes wild with fear. "Jay..."_

 _"Get a blanket from the truck," Tim says, knowing that if he doesn't take charge then nobody will. "You need to get his costume off. Put your cowl back on, or let me drive while you change your clothes. He needs a hospital."_

 _Batman doesn't acknowledge that he's even heard Tim, but after a moment he begins to obey the commands._

-

"Does Bruce know what you're doing?"

They're in a park. Tim's been to Metropolis before, but never paid it much attention. It doesn't feel like a real city. It's too blank. Too nice.

Superman is Clark Kent. Tim knows he should be putting more thought into the fact he's been given this knowledge, but he just doesn't have the strength to care yet. Perhaps secrets are easily relinquished when a crisis hits. When a hero nearly dies, and may die yet.

"No."

The suit is in a backpack beside Tim on the park bench. He took the clothing Superman offered him without comment. It feels as much a costume as the Robin suit did.

"Then how -"

"Jason gave it to me."

-

 _Tim runs off as soon as they reach the hospital. It feels like a physical hurt to do so, to leave them behind, but there isn't time to worry about that._

 _He runs through the streets, conscious of the looks he's getting from the people he passes. There's blood and ash on his shirt._

 _The hotel receptionist gives Tim a key to the room without question. Maybe 'dark-haired teenage boy' is all the staff noticed about Jason. Maybe they just don't care._

 _The room is messy and smells like the luggage of people who have been travelling for at least a little while. Tim can tell which bag is Jason's easily, the faded band t-shirts strewn around it as blatant as a sign-post._

 _There's a hidden tab underneath the standard-issue concealed pocket, which pulls a velcro seam in the lining open. The bright green of the Robin undershirt spills out first, with yellow and red visible behind._

 _Tim's hands shake as he pulls the pieces free._

-

"Bruce won't be coming back until Jason does, I'm sure," Tim finishes.

"I don't know what to say," Superman says. Tim shakes his head.

"There isn't time for that. We both know the Joker's going to do something at the General Assembly. You'll have to be the one to stop it, especially if the government knows to keep an eye out for Batman. Robin's not going to be on their favorites list either."

"What do you want to do?"

 _Go back to how things were a month ago._ "I don't know."

"Do you have... is there someone expecting you home?"

Tim shakes his head.

"Do you want me to fly you back to Gotham?"

Another shake. "No. Actually, there is somewhere you could take me."

"Where?"

-

 _The Joker's abandoned his hideout by the time Tim gets there. He's not used to the mask yet, and finds himself furrowing his brow at the feel of it around his eyes._

 _There's a message on the wall, left by the Joker for Batman. A place to meet. Tim notes it down, and when he checks it online later he finds it's a plaza in New York._

 _He catches the next flight he can get, and stares down at the land below until the plane's over ocean._

 _There's a message on the answering machine at Tim's house, from his mother. She's sorry that she missed him again, and hopes he's having a nice time while they're away._

 _He arranges the suit on his bed and stares at it. It's too big for him, the cape too wide across the shoulders and the shirt too loose._

 _Tim buys the newspaper. Two inches of column space on the fifth page. Warehouse fire, serious injuries, Bruce Wayne's ward. Tim wonders why that fact, among all the other misinformation, in incorrect. Why call him a ward rather than a son?_

 _Maybe the papers know how bleak the situation is, and are loathe to use a term so difficult to unsay. To lose a ward is regrettable and tragic, but to lose a family member is something else entirely._

-

A corner of Tim's mind wants to know if superheroes ever complain of Super-jetlag after long distances of flight. He doesn't ask.

"Could you wait out here for a minute?" Tim asks. Superman nods. He looks almost as conspicuous as Clark Kent as he would as Superman, there in the hospital corridor. Clean and fresh, as if sickness and injury have nothing whatsoever to do with his personal world.

"Of course."

Tim gives a short nod, and pushes the door to the private room open.

Bruce Wayne is asleep in a chair beside the bed, palm resting on the sheet over Jason's leg. Tim pulls the other chair around to the other side of the bed, beside the respirator. The stitches and dressings on Jason's face make the injuries even more shocking to look at, somehow.

After a second's hesitation, Tim takes Jason's hand. He can almost pretend that the boy's just asleep, same as Bruce is. 'Comatose' sounds like such a soap-opera word.

"Uh, hi," Tim says quietly. "I... Dick's somewhere with the Titans. I don't know how to reach him. And you're here. So I'm going to hang onto the suit. There needs to be a Robin right now, so the Joker gets the message that he can't win." Tim looks over at Bruce. Even in sleep, the man looks stricken. "Batman's going to need Robin, especially if... if you don't wake up. I think he needs _you_ , too, and I can't be you, but maybe I can be Robin. For a little while."

The respirator hisses, and the monitors hum.

Tim sits, and feels the weight of Jason's palm on his own, and pretends that everything is going to be all right.

That Jason is just sleeping, like Bruce, and that Tim is simply doing what he's always done best.

Just watching.


End file.
